This course will equip students with graduate-level research skills. We will learn how to locate and review research materials and how to present our research professionally in academic settings.​

This core course is linked to almost all other courses in the Master programme and to the process of choosing and writing the dissertation. This course is designed to prepare graduate students in all branches of applied linguistics to critically evaluate published research in their field and to design their own research studies. The course covers a range of theoretical, practical, and ethical issues in applied linguistics research, with an emphasis on second language teaching and learning. It examines principles for undertaking empirical research, introduces popular quantitative and qualitative methods for conducting small-scale research in the language classroom, and provides hands-on experience with research design, instruments for data collection, quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis, evaluation of published research, and research report writing. Doing research of any kind—quantitative or qualitative—involves developing a set of technical skills, and that is hard work. If you have a solid foundation in mathematics, you may find quantitative methods easier to learn whereas, if you have training in the humanities, you will probably prefer qualitative methods. By presenting quantitative and qualitative techniques side by side and by asking questions about the advantages and disadvantages of each, students are encouraged to make a choice of research technique that is appropriate for the research questions, the data, and the techniques of analysis.

Textbooks:
1. Mackey, Alison and Gass, Susan (2016). Second Language Research: Methodology and Design (2nd edition). New York: Routledge.
2. Mackey, Alison and Gass, Susan (2012). Research Methods in Second Language Acquisition: A practical guide.
3. Wen, Qiufang. (2001). Applied Linguistics: Research Methods and Thesis Writing.

References:
1. American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication manual of The American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Use this style manual for any writing that you do in applied linguistics.
2. 何德華，2010，《華語教學研究方法與論文寫作》，台北：正中書局。台灣華文電子書庫 (e-version)
3. 蔡柏贏，2015，《從字句到結構：學術論文寫作指引》，（第二版二刷）。台北：台大寫作教學中心。華藝電子書(e-version)
4. 楊世瑩，2014，SPSS 22 統計分析嚴選教材。Gotop。